The Secret World of Alex Mack
The Secret World of Alex Mack is an American television series that ran on Nickelodeon from October 8, 1994 to January 15, 1998, replacing Clarissa Explains It All on the SNICK line-up. It also aired on YTV in Canada and NHK in Japan, and was a popular staple in the children's weekday line-up for much of the mid-to-late 1990s on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Repeats of the series aired in 2003 on The N, but it was soon replaced there. The series was produced by Thomas Lynch and John Lynch of Lynch Entertainment, produced by RHI Entertainment, Hallmark Entertainment and Nickelodeon Productions and was co-created by Tom Lynch and Ken Lipman. For home video releases, it was released under the Hallmark Home Entertainment label, making it the first Nickelodeon show not to be released with Paramount Home Video or Sony Wonder. Plot Alex Mack is an ordinary teenage girl, living with her parents and older sister in the corporate town of Paradise Valley. After her first day of junior high school, while walking home, Alex is nearly hit by a truck from a chemical plant, and during the incident, she is drenched with a top-secret chemical called GC-161. She soon discovers that the chemical gives her strange powers. These include telekinesis, plus the ability to transmit bolts of electricity through her fingers, or morph into liquid form. However, her powers prove to be unpredictable (such as when her skin starts glowing brightly while she's nervous). She confides only in her sister Annie, and her best friend Ray, about her powers and decides to keep them a secret from everyone else, including her parents, for fear of what the chemical plant CEO, Danielle Atron, will do to her if she finds out. Cast and characters Main cast *Larisa Oleynik as Alexandra "Alex" Mack – Alex is an average teenager in Paradise Valley. While walking home from school, she is nearly hit by a truck carrying GC-161 and is doused with it, thus giving her extraordinary powers. *Darris Love as Raymond "Ray" Alvarado – Alex's closest friend and next-door neighbor. *Meredith Bishop as Anne "Annie" Mack – Alex's older sister, and a scientific genius in her own right. Next to Ray, she is the only one who originally knows about Alex's powers. She administers various scientific tests to ensure Alex's safety. She also hopes to one day present her research, in an effort to stop Danielle Atron. *Michael Blakley as George Mack – Alex's father, a brilliant chemist who works for Danielle Atron at the Plant. *Dorian Lopinto as Barbara Mack – Alex's mother, a more down-to-earth woman who works in a public relations firm. Recurring cast *Benjamin Kimball Smith as Louis Driscoll – Alex's and Ray's abrasive friend. *John Nielsen as Dave Watt – The dim-witted truck driver who was driving the truck that dumped the GC-161 chemical on Alex. As the only witness to the accident, Dave is often forced to serve as Vince's partner in trying to capture Alex. *Jason Strickland as Scott Greene – Alex's junior high crush. *Jessica Alba as Jessica – Scott's first girlfriend and Alex's first school rival. *Hilary Salvatore as Kelly Phillips – Scott's second girlfriend and Alex's second school rival. Kelly deviously discredits Alex at every given turn, much to Alex's dismay. *Natanya Ross as Robyn Russo – One of Alex's neighborhood friends. Though she processes a sardonic sense of humor and is fun to be around, she suffers from low self-esteem. *Alexis Fields as Nicole Wilson – Another of Alex's friends. An opposite personality to Robyn, has a take-charge attitude and strong-willed demeanor. *Louan Gideon as Danielle Atron – The owner/CEO of the Paradise Valley Chemical Plant, and Alex's main nemesis. She wants to market GC-161 as a radical new weight-loss drug, and has made it her mission to find the GC-161 child (whom she does not know is Alex) and capture her, as both a test subject and a threat to the secrecy of her plans. *John Marzilli as Vince Carter – The maniacal head of plant security, he makes it his obsession to find the GC-161 child (even after he gets fired from the Plant). *Kevin Quigley as Lars Frederickson – A skilled chemist hailing from the Plant's foreign branch in Vienna. He becomes Danielle Atron's chief subordinate after Vince gets fired. *Will Estes as Hunter Reeves – Hunter comes to Paradise Valley with an agenda concerning the disappearance of his father in relation to GC-161. He later becomes Alex's confidante and boyfriend. Episodes Main article: List of The Secret World of Alex Mack episodes Production The series was filmed in Valencia, California and the Santa Clarita Valley. The Mack home and Paradise Valley Chemical Plant interiors were filmed in a converted warehouse used as a soundstage. The junior-high scenes were filmed at Thomas Helmers and James Foster Elementary Schools. Castaic Middle School was used for high-school scenes. The house, used for exterior shots, is located in the Berwick Place neighborhood of Santa Clarita. Availability The show's first season (consisting of 13 episodes on two discs) was released by Genius Entertainment (also known as Genius Products; a subsidiary of RHI Entertainment) in the DVD format on October 2, 2007. Season 1 of the show is also to be released on DVD in the UK by Fabulous Films on April 2, 2012. The BBFC caused controversy when they classified the release a 15. They later responded saying: "One episode in this TV series contains a scene in which a child character hides inside a tumble drier, The presentation of this behaviour is comic and no negative consequences are shown which would warn young viewers of the potential dangers of hiding in such appliances. While fatal incidents of children trapped in washing machines or fridges are rare, there remains sufficient cause for serious concern. The distributor indicated that they would be happy to accept a higher certificate rather than cutting the episode. The TV series is rather dated and would not have much appeal to a young audience when compared to current children's TV programmes. In addition, as the work was being targeted at an adult 'nostalgia' market, children would not be the 'natural' audience. The BBFC decided - given the work's history, the company's willingness to accept a higher certificate and that the work was not being aimed at children - to pass it '15' without cuts." The first and second seasons are available through Amazon.com's Instant Video section and through iTunes. Book series A book series aimed at young readers was released along with the series. The first and last books of the series were novelizations of the first and last episodes, respectively. The rest of the series consisted of completely original stories, tied into the main series through the mentioning of various plot points from the TV episodes.